UPDATE 1-Comcast in talks to buy DreamWorks Animation for more than $3 bln - WSJ

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(Adds background, DreamWorks declines to comment)

April 26 (Reuters) - Comcast Corp, the largest U.S. cable operator, is in talks to buy Hollywood studio owner DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc for more than $3 billion, The Wall street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

It was not immediately clear what a deal would mean for DreamWorks Chief Executive Jeffrey Katzenberg, the Journal said. (on.wsj.com/234MiJX)

DreamWorks spokesman Dan Berger declined to comment, while Comcast was not immediately available for comment outside regular U.S. business hours.

An acquisition of DreamWorks by Comcast will bring a breath of fresh air for the company that has held several unsuccessful buyout talks in the past.

In September 2014, DreamWorks was reported to be in talks about a possible sale to cash-rich Japanese communications and media company Softbank Corp. (reut.rs/1VVey2g)

A few months later, in November, Hasbro Inc was said to be in early talks to buy the maker of the "Shrek" and "Kung Fu Panda" franchises. The talks formally ended a few days later after the toy company's board voted to walk away. (reut.rs/2356fQT)

More recently the Glendale, California-based DreamWorks has held discussions with potential buyers in China, the Journal reported citing people close to the company.

Dreamworks Animation was spun off from DreamWorks Studios in 2004 as a separate listed company.

The earlier DreamWorks Studios was founded in 1994 by Steven Spielberg, David Geffen and Jeffrey Katzenberg, who moved with the spin-off and remains chief executive of the animation company.

DreamWorks, which is in the middle of a turnaround, has been reducing its dependence on the volatile feature films business to concentrate on increasing revenue from licensing its original content to media houses and video-streaming companies such as Netflix Inc and Verizon Communications Inc's Go90.

Shares of DreamWorks, which has a market cap of $2.35 billion, closed at $27.12, on Tuesday, while Comcast ended at $61.05. (Reporting by Subrat Patnaik in Bengaluru; Editing by Leslie Adler and Gopakumar Warrier)